“I have not felt this ill since James’ 18th” said Al the next morning as he pushed his porridge bowl away from him at breakfast “At least then I had some recollection of what had happened; I don’t even remember the party starting”. I groaned; Al hadn’t felt that ill in two years where as I had never even had a proper hangover until the day after my seventeenth. James’s 18th was pretty epic though; except for the hour where we couldn’t find Lily and ended up trapped in the Burrow loft with the ghoul who, to be fair, is a perfectly reasonable chap when he isn’t throwing wrenches at you

Percy Weasley let us out in the end. Condescending tool; I have never liked him, his bleeding wife or his bleeding eldest daughter Molly who, by the way, totally hates me for no apparent reason. Lily always said it was because she liked me but I’m pretty sure you don’t purposely aim darts at the head of the person you have a crush on. Seven stitches it took to stop my forehead from bleeding, and I passed out. Bitch.

“Did you have a good birthday Oliver” asked Melissa who was resting her head on Ben’s back as he was lying face down on the table

“Yeah it was great” I replied with a yawn rubbing my forehead “What I remember of it anyway; I’ve got this awful feeling Hugo and Freddie started playing catch with a log of fire at about two am”

“That explains why I remember going down to the hospital wing” said Rebecca excitedly “And why I woke up in Hugo’s bed alone, and why I can’t find Hugo, and why I remember Madam Bones yelling at me”

“Well I’m glad someone remembers something” groaned Ryan “I think I started having visions; I swear I saw Louis and Ben holding hands”. Both Louis and Ben turned scarlett red as I looked to both of them, Al was doing the same but Ryan’s comments seemed to go generally unnoticed by everyone. It all went quiet for a bit until Leila stormed up to Ryan and hit him around the head

“What the hell” said Ryan trying to stop her but Leila just kept on hitting; Ryan looked at me for help but that would’ve involved movement and I just wasn’t ready for that yet “Woman; why are you hitting me?” Rebecca then through some toast at his head for his sexist comment as Leila stopped hitting him and sat down next to him

“You, Ryan Webster, are a complete tool” she spat “You kiss me, throw up on my shoes, pass out drunk on by my bed and then leave before I woke up without so much as a note. I thought you were dead or worse”

“What could be worse than being dead” asked Ryan

“Really?” said Dom sounding miffed “That is what you’re choosing to focus on here; dude priorities you really worried Leila”

“Oh I’m sorry” Ryan put his arm around Leila who rested her head on his shoulders and stole some bacon from his plate; he looked miffed for a second but chose not to rise to it. Ryan was like the Joey of our group, he didn’t share food at all but he was the main stud and got to sleep with a lot of the girls but was seriously dumb. Hugo was definitely Chandler; a stupid idiot who always manages to put his foot in it somehow. I was Ross; the hot geeky guy who has disastrous relationships because he’s in love with one girl throughout the entire thing. Ben, if he was anyone, was probably Richard. Because he’s says he’s going to grow a moustache when he’s older “It’s fine, you’re forgiven” said Leila giving him a kiss on the cheek “I was just worried something had happened to you”

I, and everyone but Ryan, seemed to have guessed where this was going

“You were worried about me?” yawned Ryan with a big grin on his face “That’s really sweet; I’m also assuming you’re the reason why there was a blanket across me this morning”

Leila went red “I didn’t want you to be cold” she muttered. I caught Rebecca’s eye and she looked as if she was going to cry then and there. Ryan looked genuinely touched and stared at Leila for a few seconds before leaning in for a kiss which she reciprocated

“Oh stop being cute” snarled Dom “You’re just reminding me how desperately sad and lonely I really am”. Everyone left as Dom began telling us about her tragic single life; we all laughed and I looked around at my friends and smiled. Even though they were responsible for my head feeling as if it was going to explode I was still grateful as they really were the best friends in the world. Even Melissa.

……………………………………………

“I have never, ever felt like this” said Abi around mid-day as she and I walked around the now iced over lake and through the 3 feet of snow that had fallen overnight “I feel like my head is too big for my body, like it’s gonna fall off or explode or something”

“I’m sure it won’t do that” I said squeezing her hand as we jogged to avoid several third years having a snowball fight “The fresh air has done me good, I felt like I was going mad inside especially when Jack emotionally blackmailed Hugo, Ryan and Louis into playing wizard chess with him”

“How did he do that” asked Abi gripping on to me as she nearly slipped on an icy puddle. I held her to me and kissed her as we continued walking

“Oh they accidentally broke his gobstone collection or something last night” I yawned as we sat down on a bench; my bum was immediately freezing but I still felt dizzy standing up so it was probably the best thing for me “Jack’s really good at guilt tripping people; he does it to me all the time just one look of those puppy dog eyes and I’m gone”

“So, what’re you planning for the rest of the day” said Abi leaning on my shoulder as we watched two third year boys attack a girl with snow. It was clear one of the boys really liked this girl as he offered her his hand as she tried to get back up; it was sweet and kind of reminded me of Lily and I at the same age

“Hugo, Al and a few others are on about going to Hogsmeade for some hair of the dog” I replied looking at her and brushing a stray piece of hair out of her eye “I don’t know if I’m gonna join them though; I don’t feel up to drinking again and I’d rather stay here with you”

“Awww that’s sweet” said Abi kissing me on the cheek “You can come down to our common room for a change; Hufflepuff gets the TV tonight so the whole house is gonna sit down and watch a movie. Popcorn and everything; you can talk to Tommy and everyone”

“I think I might just do that” I said putting my arm around her and pulling her into my chest. She snuggled up against me

“I’m so in love with you” she yawned; I was about to reply when a snowball hit me hard on the back of my head. I turned around to see Lily, Roxy and little Lucy headed towards us

“Ermm… ouch” I shouted as they ran towards Abi and I. Abi scowled at the sight of Lily who for a second looked as if she was going to reply but ultimately thought the better of it after Roxy shook her head

“Lils has something to say to you” said Roxy pushing her cousin forward. Abi and I raised our eyebrows as Lily went red, took a deep breath and announced that she has missed me, wanted to be friends again and was sorry for any pain and hurt she caused both Abi and I

“So, friends again” Lily asked holding her hand out to me. I looked to Abi who nodded with an air of reluctance and shook Lily’s hand